In the news, Thursday, May 28, 2020

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MAY 27      INDEX      MAY 29

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from BBC News (UK)

The tree that changed the world map
Deep in the Andean rainforest, the bark from an endangered tree once cured malaria and powered the British Empire. Now, its derivatives are at the centre of a worldwide debate. ... “This may not be a well-known tree,” said Nataly Canales, who grew up in the Peruvian Amazonian region of Madre de Dios. “Yet, a compound extracted from this plant has saved millions of lives in human history.” Today, Canales is a biologist at the National Museum of Denmark who is tracing the genetic history of cinchona. As she explained, it was the bark of this rare tree that gave the world quinine, the world’s first anti-malarial drug. And while the discovery of quinine was welcomed by the world with both excitement and suspicion hundreds of years ago, in recent weeks, this tree’s medical derivatives have been at the centre of another heated global debate. Synthetic versions of quinine – such as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine – have been touted and largely disputed as possible treatments for the novel coronavirus.

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from The EastAfrican

News & Media Website

UN warns of possible war crimes in northeastern Congo
Widespread and systematic killings, beheadings, rape and other barbaric acts by militia mostly from the ethnic Lendu community in northeastern Congo may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Rich in natural resources including gold, diamonds, oil and coltan, the Ituri province in northeast Congo was the site of some of the country’s worst fighting between 1999 and 2007, after a power struggle between rebel groups descended into ethnic violence, mostly between the Hema and Lendu communities. After years of relative calm, tit-for-tat fighting erupted again in December 2017, reviving longstanding tensions over land.

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from HumanProgress.org

Education Website

Heroes of Progress, Pt. 45: John Snow

This week, our hero is John Snow. Snow was a 19th century English physician, and is considered by many the father of epidemiology. Following a series of cholera outbreaks in London, Snow was the first person to use maps and data records to track the spread of a disease back to its source. Snow’s work provided a foundation for the science of epidemiology. As such, he improved the way humanity confronts public health emergencies. 

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from Mises Institute
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED

Politicians' COVID Mania Ravages Maryland
Maryland politicians have destroyed more than four hundred thousand jobs in dictatorial responses purporting to thwart the coronavirus pandemic. “Nearly one in five Maryland workers have filed for unemployment” compensation, theBaltimore Sun reported. The situation is so bad that even the Washington Post recognized that Maryland’s COVID “restrictions have crippled the economy and paralyzed daily life since mid-March.”

The Hydroxychloroquine Controversy Is a Reminder That Prescription Laws Are a Government Racket
After President Trump declared that he uses hydroxychloroquine, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) walked back its advice against the drug and seemingly all others as well. “The decision to take any drug,” the head of the agency said, is “between a patient and their doctor.” The FDA has had two shining moments during the spread of the coronavirus. At neither time did the agency do something so much as it undid something. The first moment was March 13, when the FDA dropped its onerous approval process for coronavirus test kits. It was still late to the game, but the move helped save face.

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from New York Post
RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED,  Newspaper in New York

China allegedly pursuing law allowing citizens to sue US over COVID-19
China’s legislature proposed drafting a sovereign immunity law that would allow Chinese citizens to pursue legal actions against the United States over the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report. The proposal in China’s National People’s Congress would be in retaliation for lawsuits brought against China and the ruling Communist Party by several US states and a number of countries around the world, Breitbart News reported on Wednesday. The suits accuse China of silencing doctors who were raising alarms that the coronavirus was a contagious respiratory disease in the early days of the outbreak and of pressuring foreign countries not to impose travel restrictions on Chinese nationals.

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

Sue Lani Madsen: Christians must decide for themselves how essential attending church is for their faith
Should churches reopen as an essential service? Yes, said President Donald Trump on Sunday. Not yet, said Gov. Jay Inslee, until he changed his mind on Wednesday. Meanwhile the shutdown has pushed the body of Christ to rethink what “church” means.

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